Blogs & Opinions

The UN Security Council Debates Its Role in Tackling Climate Security

Jul 6, 2023 | Angus Soderberg

Climate change is a security concern due to its role as a risk multiplier, aggravating political, social, and economic vulnerabilities, straining resources, and undermining institutions.…

National Climate Adaptation Plans Must Include Women’s Voices

Jul 6, 2023 | Lauren Wolfe

As the world struggles to catch up with climate change — whether confronting extreme wildfire smoke in the U.S. Northeast, or some of the hottest…

Growing Climate Crisis Fuels Gender-Based Violence According to UN Report

Jul 6, 2023 | Anupama Patel

The growing climate crisis does intersect with raging gender-based violence around the world, according to a recent statistical report by the United Nations Organisation. Globally, 26 per…

The Taliban’s New Canal Threatens Water Security in Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan

Jul 5, 2023 | Niginakhon Saida

On March 30, 2022, Taliban Deputy Prime Minister Mulla Abdul Ghani Baradar launched the construction of the Qosh Tepa canal, which will divert significant amount…

The Geopolitics of Climate Change: China and the United States at the UN Security Council

Jul 4, 2023 | Homeland Security Today

Beijing has for years leveraged its status as a developing country in the Paris Agreement construct to avoid responsibility to reduce emissions as fast as…

The Impacts of Climate Change on South Asian Women

Jul 3, 2023 | Neha Madhira

Of the 750 million South Asians affected by at least one climate-related disaster in the last two decades, women have been disproportionately impacted. According to a recent report by…

New Canal Threatens the Peace between the Taliban and Central Asia

Jul 3, 2023 | Bruce Pannier

When the Taliban entered Kabul in mid-August 2021, the Central Asian governments, with the exception of the Tajik government, simply continued, to the extent possible,…

What Is the EU's Joint Communication on Climate-Security Nexus All about?

Jul 3, 2023 | Olivia Lazard

Climate security is key to understanding instability and fragility in and outside Europe, and this agenda should be treated as the lens through which to…

The Climate-Gender Nexus

Jul 2, 2023 | Shruti Deora

Climate change is a global challenge that requires urgent action and innovative solutions. It is not just an environmental issue but also a social and economic…

Climate Security Is National Security

Jun 30, 2023 | Andrew Hoehn and Thom Shanker

The military does not have the luxury of debating climate change, a reality now adding a powerful, destabilizing force to fragile, unstable areas of the…

Understanding Climate-Related Risks for Early Warning, Prevention and Peacebuilding in the Middle East and North Africa Region

Jun 30, 2023 | Ginevra Cucinotta and Maylina St-Louis

Climate change is recognized as one of the greatest risks to global peace and security. In the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, the…

From Hydro-Terrorism to Ecocide: Weaponising Water in War

Jun 28, 2023 | Ibrahim Al-Marashi

The destruction of Ukraine's Kakhovka dam highlights the increasing role of ecocide in war, with the weaponisation of water and targeting of natural resources tactics…

The Regulation of Crimes against Water in Armed Conflicts and Other Situations of Violence

Jun 28, 2023 | Mara Tignino

Water is the lifeblood of human beings and society, but threats to water, such as the pollution of rivers, cybercrimes, and attacks against water infrastructure,…

920 Million People Could Face Conflict over the World’s Rivers by 2050: What Our Study Found in Africa

Jun 25, 2023 | Sophie de Bruin

The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam project on the Nile River started operating in February 2022. It reinforced tensions between Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt. The three…

Is the “Taboo” of Using Water as a Weapon Broken?

Jun 24, 2023 | Kartike Garg

In the annals of human history, water has often been deployed as a potent weapon during the times of conflict. From poisoning of water sources…

‘Women Bear the Biggest Brunt of Climate Change,’ says Climate Scientist Susan Chomba

Jun 21, 2023 | Neha Wadekar

Roughly 12 percent of the world’s top climate scientists are women and fewer than one percent are from Africa – a continent hard hit by climate…

A Tale of Two Definitions: Fortifying Four Key Elements of the Proposed Crime of Ecocide (Part I)

Jun 20, 2023 | Matthew Gillett

This two-part post addresses four facets of the Independent Expert Panel‘s (“IEP”) 2021 proposed definition of Ecocide and contrasts them with the corresponding elements of…

Beyond the UN Security Council: Can the UN General Assembly Tackle the Climate–Security Challenge?

Jun 20, 2023 | Adam Day and Florian Krampe

Despite the evidence, and despite the Security Council having already passed more than 70 resolutions and statements on climate-related security risks, efforts to make climate…

Opinion: Make Climate Finance Inclusive for Just Transition to Net Zero

Jun 20, 2023 | Jyotsna Puri and Pablo Vieira

Beyond the UN Security Council: Can the UN General Assembly Tackle the Climate–Security Challenge?

Jun 20, 2023 | Adam Day and Florian Krampe

The wildfires raging in Canada are yet another reminder that climate change is already having an impact on all our lives. As the smoke clears…

Climate Response for Drylands Must Include Women

Jun 17, 2023 | Tiina Vähänen and Fidaa F. Haddad

In the world’s drylands, which are home to nearly 40% of the global population, women are feeling the effects of climate change. Droughts and land…

The Kakhovka Dam Disaster: Responsibility and Consequences

Jun 14, 2023 | Andrian Prokip

In the early morning hours of June 6, an explosion destroyed the dam of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station on the Dnipro river. Seismic data…

President Biden’s Focus on Environmental Justice Has a Crucial Blind Spot

Jun 13, 2023 | Carly A. Krakow

On April 21, President Biden signed an executive order addressing domestic toxic pollution and climate vulnerabilities that disproportionately burden low-income communities and communities of color.…

Use of Water as a Weapon of War Likely to Increase

Jun 13, 2023 | Kerry Boyd Anderson

The collapse of the Nova Kakhovka dam in Ukraine last week highlighted the role of water in warfare. The use of water as a weapon…

The Taliban’s Opium Ban: A Success or a Failure?

Jun 13, 2023 | Altaf Moti

Afghanistan is the world’s biggest opium producer and a major source for heroin in Europe and Asia. Production spiraled over the past 20 years despite…

ELN Ceasefire Could Ease Environmental Degradation in Colombia

Jun 12, 2023 | Conflict and Environment Observatory

The new Colombian government is in the midst of an attempt to conclude its decades-long internal conflict, and a deal with the ELN forms a…

Conflict, Crisis, and Peacebuilding: Afghanistan and Regional Water Security

Jun 12, 2023 | Elizabeth B. Hessami

Gunfire erupted at the border of the Afghan Nimroz Province and Iran’s Sistan-Baluchistan Province on May 27, 2023, amid rising tensions over water rights, killing…

Water on Boil: Weaponization of Water in Contemporary Geopolitics

Jun 10, 2023 | Rahul M. Lad and Ravindra G. Jaybhaye

A huge Kakhovka dam in the Russian-controlled area of southern Ukraine has been devastated on June 6, unleashing a flood of water in Southern Ukraine.…

Could the Nova Kakhovka Dam Destruction Become the ICC’s First Environmental Crimes Case?

Jun 9, 2023 | Thomas Hansen

Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, is likely right when he labels the Nova Kakhovka Dam destruction the “largest man-made environmental disaster in Europe in decades.” Accountability…

When the Levee Breaks: Five Military Takeaways from the Kakhovka Dam’s Destruction

Jun 8, 2023 | Timothy Heck and Zachary Griffiths

The destruction of the Kakhovka dam on the Dnipro River has launched a wave of recriminations as both the Ukrainian and Russian governments blamed each…